


Start of a Count Down

by Qem



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Growing Up, letting go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 08:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qem/pseuds/Qem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mito doesn't know what kind of woman would let Ging raise a son. She doesn't want to know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Start of a Count Down

Mito’s brother’s always been distant but kind for as long as she’s known him, but he’s always wanted to leave the island. To leave this world behind and to see something that no one else has, no matter how cryptically he may phrase it, “to see something that I can’t see in front of me”, she’s always known what it meant. That he’s going to go away, that there’s nothing that will make him stay. 

She used to feel that way too, leaving the island once to follow him. She learned a lot of things on that trip, including how different she is from her brother.

Ging himself doesn’t keep in touch too often, sometimes casually breezing by the island to ruffle her hair, sometimes a postcard gets sent, sometimes a parcel arrives. But when Ging came back to Whale Island with a bundle in his hands, Mito knew that there was no way that she could let her brother take that bundle off the island. She’s pretty sure Ging knew that she’d make that decision, even before he came back. That thought helps drive her determination on the matter, helps her take it to court even though she usually prefers to avoid conflict.

If Ging was truly determined to do something, he wouldn’t even give you the opportunity to talk him out of it. He would just go. Presumably this is why she’s never met Gon’s mother. Mito has an idea of the kind of women who might be willing to hook up with her brother. But she doesn’t know what kind would let him raise a child and she doesn’t want to know.

Her brother’s always been distant but kind for as long as she’s known him, but he’s always wanted to leave the island. To leave this world behind and to see something that no one else has, no matter how cryptically he may phrase it, “to see something that I can’t see in front of me”, she’s always known what it meant. That he wanted to leave the island. That he’s going to go away, that there’s nothing that will make him stay. But while, she’s always known that. She doesn’t want Gon to know that. Not yet. Not for many years. Not until he’s an adult at least.

So she disconnects the internet from her house and exorcizes her brother from her vocabulary, hardening her resolve. She knows that one day Gon will leave, especially as he grows into someone who is recognisably Ging’s son, and teaches him as much as she can about herds and small animals, the bigger ones and carnivores when she has no choice. She tries to get him to focus on the practical rather than the theoretical beyond that always drew her brother. Sometimes she feels safe – Gon doesn’t have the same kind of love of puzzles as Ging always did. Sometimes she feels like it’s a matter of days before he’ll leave, with his quiet surety and gaze upon the ocean.

So when Gon comes to her with his request as she knew he would, much sooner than she hoped, she sets the hardest task she can think of, one that even qualified Hunter’s have failed at, before moving on from the island.

It’s not enough to keep him, she knows. It’s only a postponement, the start of a count down. But hopefully the skills he learns to complete this task; will be enough to prove that he can keep himself safe. She just hopes that she can gain the courage to tell him more about what he needs to know before he goes, but for now she'll focus on analysing patterns on the table.


End file.
